Marcus Smart: The REAL Lakers X-Factor

Written By Malcolm Xavier of The Lakers Room

Marcus Smart, a former defensive player of the year and buyout project for the Lakers this previous offseason is paying tremendous dividends. I don't say that lightly. Luka Doncic is scoring a boatload of points and putting up tremendous numbers - we had that last year. JJ Redick is on his way to his second 50 win campaign (barring an epic collapse) in as many seasons and has turned a scrambling zone defense into a useful tool to generate stops and wins - that also happened last year after AD was traded. LeBron has been mostly LeBron with a slight role adjustment, and AR-15 has even took his game to another level as a second option. Deandre Ayton, the teams other buyout player has had an up and down season (mostly up of late). The one glaring positive change to the LA mix this year has been one of effort and defense and overall veteran leadership that has came in the form of one player - Marcus Smart.

Marcus Smart leads the Lakers in +/- at a whopping +238. Plus minus doesn't tell it all but is a great impact indicator (Second is Austin Reaves at +160 and LeBron is a +31 to put that into perspective). Smart is averaging 9.5 Ppg 2.8 Rpg & 2.8 Apg for the third seed Lakers over 60 games played (53 starts) Not eye popping numbers but extremely consistent and good for almost two three pointers a game. Smart has started 53 games for LA this season, providing the soul to a team that at time's can have too much Hollywood cool. Diving for loose balls, being tied for tops in the league at drawing charges and not afraid to challenge officials or opponents in the heat of the moment. I haven't seen him shy away from taking any shot, a la the end of the Nuggets game we lost in Denver. I believe no matter what the result Smart is committed to leaving it all on the court which you can see the effects rubbing off on the rest of the team as the team first mentality has been strenghtened across the board. I believe Marcus Smart is a big reason for this.

I'm not sure how far the Lakers go in the playoffs, but I know thanks to having Marcus Smart we won't get bullied like we did by Minnesota in 2025. His game may not be flashy or score 30 points on a given night but it's exactly what we need for the stretch run and the physical postseason. I'm old enough to remember the Ron Artest effect on the 2010 Lakers championship run and im not saying this team will duplicate that success, but if they do win or even make a deep run I can guarantee Marcus Smart doing the little things will be the biggest reason.